Blog Fixed & Attitude Adjustment

First, thanks to all who have offered their kind words regarding my recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes. I have made excellent progress regarding my overall health in the past few months since I learned of my disease. In fact, it was a blessing in disguise to be honest. :-)

Once I figured out what the hell was wrong with me, I knew how to fight it. The first part is losing weight. Back around the first of the year, I weighed 247 pounds. I am now around 215! That is 32 pounds I've shed...mostly since early March. I went from a tight-fitting size 38 to a lose 36. I need to go buy some size 34 clothes soon. My goal is to get below 200 which is in easy reach now.

Eating right and exercising regularly is all I have done. I have had to take NO medication to control it. I've been focusing 100% of my energy and effort into making a significant lifestyle change regarding my diet and correcting bad habits and eating urges. Lots of veggies, chicken/turkey/fish, and fruits with plenty of water. A serious curtailment of starchy and rich carbohydrate foods and of course eliminating about 98% of sugars. This has allowed me to keep my blood sugar levels in check and in the normal range. This in turn has given me LOTS more energy and ambition as well as being sharper mentally. It is literally like I've come out of a dense, dreary fog into clear, warm blue skies. :-)

So, bottom line is I'm feeling better than I've felt in many years. I have NO desire to regress and gain the weight back and the resultant poor health levels. No sir, no way. Besides, I'll have type 2 diabetes the rest of my life. The price for not taking care of it seriously will result in some serious medical complications which are downright scary. That too along with my vastly improved quality of life is plenty of motivation.

I dropped out of communication with most of my friends which I apologize for. I had to make some tough decisions to socially withdraw for a short time to get focused on my health. Nothing is more important than that. Between that and work and a couple of other efforts, I've not had much more free time outside of that. However, things are settling now in my new routine and I'm emerging from my social "spiderhole". ;-)

The other major effort taking up my time has been getting a new vehicle. I'm the proud owner of a new 2010 Hyundai Sante Fe SE AWD affectionately known as "Tailchaser III". Between de-rigging the old Honda Element and cleaning it up..AND getting the new vehicle rigged up, I've not had much time for anything else the past few weeks. This includes a couple of weeks researching and test driving and of course my favorite sport of car-salesman-arm-wrestling. I'll post pics of the new ride soon.

This brings me to my current state of stormchasing philosophy. I've decided to take it down a couple of notches. This includes reduced travel distance, reduced overall effort, abandoning storms earlier, etc. A large part of this decision revolves around fighting the hoards of chasers which as we've seen recently is getting outrageous on big chase days. I'm not surprised at all and have been expecting it for years now. It will only continue to get worse.

For me, waiting for a 5-mile continuous convoy of vehicles before you can get on the road takes all the fun out of it. Plus, when in the middle of the circus, watching for the ever increasing number of idiot morons standing in the road or dashing out in front of you. More and more vehicles are not pulling far enough of the road and even partially block it. I can't watch and enjoy the storm because of constantly worrying and scanning for the idiots ahead. Then there's the challenge of finding a place to safely pull over to observe the storm. Lastly, in a big convoy, some dumbass up ahead will slow down to half of the posted speed limit and clog the other 500 vehicles behind them. Oh, and I'd be remiss if I did not refer to my twin namesake's blog post.

So, my efforts are now focused on finding ways to enjoy my favorite hobby again. This will entail alternative target areas at the risk of busting or missing "the storm of the day". I may also stand off at a further distance from a storm where the chaser convergence is a concern. I can be perfectly happy getting some awesome structure shots and let the 500 chasers near the tornado post all of the similar images and video online. In fact, I am to the point now that I will seriously consider abandoning a storm altogether and head home if the hordes are bad enough.

One other thing I'm doing is abandoning live streaming. It's just too much effort and "stress" when in the heat of battle. Plus, it's yet another distraction within the near-storm environment around the chaser circus. Plus, EVERYBODY is doing it now. I wouldn't be adding any value with my measley stream...particularly if I'm backing off more at a distance. There just isn't a "return on investment" in it anymore for me.

It all boils down to wanting to take a simple drive to see an incredible storm and not worry about much of anything else. Think of it as being a "minimalist chaser". If this hasn't been coined before by somebody else, I'm claiming dibs on it now. :-)

In keeping with the less stress / more fun theme, I'm just not that all interested any more in any stormchasing related drama. This includes the Stormtrack flame wars and dead-horse subjects as well as the business-related side of it. I just don't really care anymore about all of it. I want to put on my chaser hat to go see a storm and enjoy it (which includes the photography aspect of it) and when it is over with, take my chaser hat off and become a mild-mannered civilian....and remain that way until I put my hat back on.

I've got other interests and hobbies I want to pursue now. Stormchasing will always be part of my hobbies, but will now take it's place next to the other ones. The new chase vehicle has a towing package, and a bass boat is now on the horizon. :-)

For now through the end of June however, stormchasing will be at the top of the list. :-)